


of fairy tales and freshman orientation

by desastrista



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fairy Tale Retellings, M/M, Mentions of Crossdressing, The Lindworm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 13:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7759129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desastrista/pseuds/desastrista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Day 1 of Pynch Week: Fairytale AUs </p>
<p>A late letter, a Norwegian fairy tale, and Ronan's nightmare about the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of fairy tales and freshman orientation

**Author's Note:**

> When I went to college, I had a two day orientation well before moving in dedicated to picking classes, learning about the school, etc. I roughly based one plot point on my memories of those two days -- not sure how common a practice that is in colleges across the US.

Adam Parrish had fought and defeated a demon, but now he was plagued by another enemy: the United States post office. 

The lease had run out for his apartment above the church just before he was supposed to leave for college. Ronan had suggested he spend his remaining time in Henrietta at the Barns. Once, Adam might have balked at the suggestion, but he was getting better about accepting help. Besides, it made sense; he was certainly spending enough time there anyways. So Adam set up his mail to be forwarded from his old apartment to the Barns. And when he got his dorm assignment, he started using that as his official address. The result was that he was only somewhat confident he was actually getting all the mail he should. He didn’t even want to think about whether any mail was still going to his parents’ trailer. 

All things considered, it was working out okay. That is, until the letter from his school telling him about a mandatory freshman orientation arrived late at the Barns. Adam had to scramble to find someone to cover his shift at his jobs and to make all the necessary travel arrangements. 

He was so busy that he only noticed after everything had been arranged how surprisingly distant Ronan had been during the whole thing. 

 

Ronan was on a different schedule than Adam. There was no longer a school calendar to even pretend to boss him around; the only things that dictated what he did and when were his crops, the animals he was raising, and Opal. Tonight, it seemed, the last of those three were on his mind. He had gotten a book of fairy tales from the library. Adam found Ronan reading to Opal on the couch in the living room when he finished his late shift at the garage. 

“And then the stepsister cut off her toe to fit into the slipper, and the Prince thought he had finally found his princess. But when the stepsister got into the carriage, Cinderella’s birds started singing to the Prince about shoes filled with blood. When he checked the stepsister’s shoe, he realized that he had been fooled and went back to the cottage.” 

Chainsaw had perched himself on the back of the couch. At the end of the story, he gave a scream that sounded self-satisfied. Adam shot Ronan a confused glance as he walked in to the room and pulled himself up a chair. 

“Why are you making up gory endings for fairy tales?” he asked. 

Opal waved hello to Adam, while Ronan just feigned offense. “I didn’t make it up! That was how the Grimm Brothers wrote it. Opal,” he said, looking down at his satyr dream daughter, “Don’t listen to anything he says. Ok, as I was saying, then Cinderella tries on the slipper and it fits right away. So the Prince takes her back to the Castle and they’re happily married and the birds peck out the eyes of the stepmother and stepsisters who did her wrong.” 

Adam leaned forward. His skeptical expression was unchanged. “I don’t know,” he said. “Sounds like you just like stories about birds getting revenge.”

Adam couldn’t recognize bird calls, but the noise that Chainsaw made sounded approving. Ronan just let out an amused snort in response. “Fine,” he said. “Next story. No vengeful birds, so Adam knows I’m not just making this up.” He made a show of waving the book for Adam, who was still unconvinced. “This one is called the lindworm.” 

It was not one that Adam had heard before, and even tired as he was from the long shift, he might have listened more attentively than Opal did. Ronan told the story of a queen who longed for a child and was told by a witch to leave a chalice in her garden and that two roses would grow. The queen could choose whether to eat the red rose or the white rose but not both. But of course, her hunger got the best of her and she disobeyed. She did eventually give birth to a son, but before he could be born, she also birthed a horrible monster. The monster ran away, but when it came time for the son to be married, the monster returned. It demanded a bride before it would allow its brother to be married. The Prince asked foreign kingdoms to send him suitable brides for him to give the lindworm, but the monster just devoured one after another. In despair the Prince looked towards his own kingdom. He found a poor shepherd with a clever daughter. He ordered the shepherd to give him his daughter so that she could marry the monster. Terrified, the daughter sought advice from a witch. The witch told her that for her wedding night she must ask for ten white dresses, a tub of lye, a tub of milk, and several whips. When she was to meet her husband, the witch told her, she must ask the groom to shed his skin and shed a dress in exchange. When that was done, then the shepherd’s daughter would whip him with a whip drenched in lye, bathe him in milk, and finally embrace him. The daughter did all that and the lindworm revealed himself to actually be a prince in disguise. The two married happily ever after. 

Ronan finished, “And then they lived happily ever after.” 

There was a moment of silence. 

“That’s messed up,” Adam finally said. 

Ronan nodded. “Agreed.” He gave a dramatic sigh, “And tragically short on birds pecking people’s eyes out.” 

Adam just made a face. “I like the Disney ones better. The one with the girl who had the talking dragon, that was a good one.” He caught himself yawning. It had gotten late, “I should probably get going to bed.”

“When are you leaving for your orientation?” Ronan asked. His voice was casual but there was -- _something_ that flashed across his face. It was gone before Adam could place it, though, and in its place Ronan’s expression was just mildly curious.

“Not tomorrow, but the day after. I’m going to head out in the morning, should be gone for three days. Are you going to bed?” 

“Nah,” Ronan said, turning back to Opal. “One more fairy tale.” 

 

Adam was half-asleep by the time that Ronan joined him in bed. But when Adam got up in the middle of the night, it took him almost no time at all to realize that something was wrong. Ronan was lying unnaturally still. Adam’s breath caught in his throat. He tried shaking Ronan’s shoulder, but Ronan did not respond. Adam stood up and ran to find the bowl he used to scry. 

Before he knew it, he was in Cabeswater again. It had been a while since he had last visited. It still looked much as he remembered, just as it had been before the demon tried to destroy it. But perhaps a little darker, here in Ronan’s dream. Adam looked around. There was no sign of Ronan. He took a few steps forward.

He soon found his way blocked by a monster. Not just any monster: a terrifyingly large worm. It had a mouth full of teeth, each as big as Adam's forearms. It gnashed them threateningly in his direction. Adam took a step backwards warily. Was this another creature from Ronan’s dreams? Had this monster gotten to Ronan? 

His feet landed on something as he took a step back. He took his eyes off the monster for a moment to look down at what he had stepped on. Even in the dark of the forest, he could still make out a rough outline of the object. It was a whip. Sitting next to it was a tub of milk. There was also a tub of lye. And ten pristine white dresses. 

Adam wasn’t going to try them on, but he had the sneaking suspicion they would fit him. 

He turned back to the monster. It was still baring its teeth. He just smiled and held out a hand. 

“Ronan,” he said, his voice soft, “Get out of there.” 

No sooner had he spoken than the monster started to shed its skin. It took a few seconds but when the layers peeled away there stood, looking a little embarrassed, one Ronan Lynch. 

“This is about the orientation, isn’t it?” Adam asked. 

Ronan didn’t answer right away. He looked down instead at the remains of the lindworm skin. There was a lot of it. He had to kick at it just to free his feet. He was scrupulously avoiding looking at Adam. Adam wasn’t sure what exactly he expected Ronan to say.

The lindworm was a monster abandoned by its family who attacked those who tried to help it. If Adam were to cast Ronan as anyone from a fairy tale, it’s not who he would have chosen. But it wasn’t his thoughts that Cabeswater responded to. And Ronan – particularly in his nightmares – had never quite seen himself the way Adam did. 

Ronan was a man of great and terrifying abilities. Communicating just didn’t happen to be one of them.

He kicked at the lindworm skin around him again. “Do you have to go?” he finally said. 

“I’ll come back,” Adam said. “And I’ll visit while I’m in school. And you can come up and visit – it’s not that far.” He couldn’t help but laugh as he pictured Ronan visiting. “I’m sure no matter what I tell people about you, no one will expect a farmer with a shaved head and tattoos.” 

Ronan didn’t look totally convinced, but he let out an amused huff. Adam stepped over the lindworm skin gingerly to give Ronan a quick kiss. 

“Besides,” he said as he broke away, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “Ronan, if you wanted to see me wear a dress, there are easier ways to ask.” 

 

The freshman orientation was okay. It was exciting to get a chance to really explore the new campus. The experience did suffer from all the staff trying to squeeze too much information into too little time. And of course Adam missed the Barns and Opal and Ronan. But he knew they would find a way to make the distance work.

Adam had realized the day before he left that a planner might be a good thing to have, so Ronan had dreamt him one. At the top right of the page, there was a drawing of a lindworm. It changed slightly as Adam flipped the pages. It was an animation, Adam realized. Ronan had such an amazing attention to detail. He took a moment to flip through the book. The lindworm was shedding its skin – and in the end, inside the lindworm there was Chainsaw, saying a rude word. 

Adam let out a small snort of laughter. No doubt Ronan had been pretty pleased with himself when he thought of it. 

Adam wondered how he was ever going to be able to describe Ronan to anyone he met at school. A prince in disguise, maybe. A farmer with an overactive imagination. Someone who worried about his boyfriend leaving for college. Adam wasn't sure any of them really did Ronan justice.


End file.
